Machine for roller leveling and stretching steel sheets



T. L. THOMAS June 23, 1931.

MACHINE FOR ROLLER LEVELING AND STRETCHING STEEL SHEETS Filed Jan. 9. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 T. 1.. THOMAS 1,811,599

MACHINE FOR ROLLER LEVELING AND STRETCHING STEEL SHEETS Filed Jan. 9. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 23, 1931.

Patented June 23, 1931 I UNITED STATES PATENT] OFFICE THOMAS L. THOMAS, OF YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, ASSIGNOB TO THE YOUNGSTOWN FOUNDRY & MACHINE COMPANY, 01' YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO, A CORPORATION OF OHIO lMACHINE I'OB ROLLER LEVELING AND STBE'ICHING STEEL SHEETS Application filed January 9, 1980. Serial No. 419,815.

My invention relates to new and useful improvements 1n machlnes for roller leveling and stretching steel sheets, and has for an. object to provide a machine wherein the steel sheets may be fed into one end of the machine, in which there is situated a number of staggered rolls which will thereby level the sheet. After the front end of the sheet has been leveled by passing through these. rotating rolls, it will be securely gripped in the jaws of a gripper head and the sheet will then be pulled through the leveling rolls and, at the same time, stretch to thereby flatten the same, so that'it may be used for automobile body work and steel furniture work or, in other words, in any of the arts-that call for absolutel flat steel sheets. y

Still another object of the invention is to. provide a machine with a number of leveling rolls, which rolls may be eithermanually or mechanically operated during the introduction of the sheet. However, after the forward end is beyond the rolls or, in other words, the sheet is threaded .to the rolls, it

will be tightly gripped in .the head ofthe machine, after which either the mechanical or manual power will be released from the rolls,

so that the stretching action also causes the sheet to be pulled through the leveling rolls to thereby both level and stretch the sheet in the one operation.

sheet leveling machine for performing both operations at the one and same timeto thereby save time and expense in the flattening of the sheets. j Y

It is well known that there area number of machines for roller leveling sheet steel and after these sheets have been roller leveled in one machine, they are then passed through a stretching machine to further flatten, the sheet. With the present device, however, rather than using two machines, that is,'first rolling the sheets out and then placing them in a stretcher, "the sheets are pulled by the stretcher through the leveling rolls, thus saving time and producing a better sheet.

It will be understood that these sheets are often fourteen feet long and are more or less be handled are generally a cumbersome to handle, so that in the present instance, bystretching and leveling at the one and same time, the double handling of the sheets is dispensed with. With these and other objects in 'view, the mvention consists in certain new and novel arrangements and combination of parts, as W111 be hereinafter more fully described'and pointed out in the claims.

' Referring now to the drawings showing a referred embodiment of my invention.

ig. 1 is a side elevation of the roller leveling and stretching machine, parts being broken away for the sake of elearness;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation taken at the'forward end ofthe machine and showing the ar ran ement of theleveling rolls;

Fig. 3 is a sectional .view taken on the line 33 of Fig. 1, looking in the-direction of the arrows; 1.

Fig. 4 is a top. plan view of the machine showing a sheet in position andthe stretching head having move from thepo'sition shown inFig.1.

Referring now more particularly to the several views, there isshown a base, which may. be made-up of the's'ide plates 1, which side plates may have the diagonal ribs 2 for strength and lightness. It will be understood that these machines may be made of' v any desired length but preferably about six- Still another object of the invention is to provide a roller sheet leveling and stretching teen or seventeen-feet lon as the sheets to ut fourteenfeet long. The base will, of course, be of the necessary size and strength to accommodate the rolls and gripper head,which latter will hereinafter more described in detail.

' Now mounted on the two side-frames are the two I beams 3 and 4 (Fig.4), while at the forward end of the machine andsecurely mounted in these I beams are the leveling rolls 5, 6, 7,8 and 9, which rolls are set in the usual upper and lowervpositions, so that as asheet 10 is fed into them, it will-"pursue a slight tortuous path between the rolls, as is the usual practice, and thus be leveled and flattened. v

On one. of the rolls 8, I have shown a handle 11, sothat whenthe sheet is first fed to the rolls,.it may rest on the guide or shelf 12 and after contacting with the rolls, the handle 11 may be turned to thus start the sheet through the several leveling rolls.

Although I have shown these rolls as to be preliminarily manually operated, it will be readily understood without further discussion or drawings that these rolls might be mechanically initially operated. Furthermore, it will be understood that although I have only shown live leveling rolls, any number of the same may be employed. Again, these rolls will be adjustable with relation to each other, as oftentimes more than one sheet is run through a machine at the one time.

Continuing the description of the machine, and referring to Fig. 3 and to the I beam 3, there will be noticed that there is provided an upper gear rack 13 and a lower gear rack 14, the first mounted just under the head of the I beam and the latter mounted on the inner upper surface of the base of the I beam, so that two pinions or gears may mesh and travel along these respective racks.- Likewise. over on the other I beam 4 is the upper rack 15 and the lower rack 16 for the reception of two pinions, shortly to be mentioned. These racks run from near the forward end of the machine throughout the whole length thereof, so that the stretcher head may be driven back and forth along the machine.

There are also two guides or hearing rods 17 that are mounted at their rear ends in suitable bearings 18, which latter are formed in the end plate 19. These guide rods, in turn, are fastened at their other ends in the gripper head 20, which latter is provided with the face plate 21 having the collars 22 to receive the respective ends of the rods 17. The head 20 is also provided on its front face with a block 23, which extends entirely across the face of the gripper head and is centrally cut out, as at 24:.

Suitably mounted near the upper and lower surfaces of this cut-out portion 24 of the block 23 are the two gripper j aws25 and 26, one of these gripper jaws being operated by a'small handle 27, so that when the sheet 10 has passed through the rolls and into the cut-out portion of the block 23, it will feed into the swinging jaws, which may then be tightened by a slight movement of the handle 27. These gripper jaws may have cooperating mutilated gears or segments 28 connected therewith, so that a movement of the handle 27 will tend to tighten or loosen both of the jaws at the one time. These j aws are set at a slight angle to each other similar to a toggle arrangement, so that after the sheet has once passed into the jaws, the tighter the pull the tighter the grip, which is the usual practice. Referring again to the gripper head 20, it will be seen that the central portion 29 is cut out, for the reception of the relatively large gear 29 which, in turn, is mounted on a central transverse shaft 30. This gear 29 is in mesh with an idler gear 31 which, in turn, meshes with a pinion 32 mounted on the motor shaft 33 of the motor 34. This motor may be of ten or twelve horse power or, in fact, any size desired and should be reversible, so that it may drive the head either forwardly or rearwardly, as desired.

The shaft 30 also carries a pinion at each end, such as 35 and 36;the one engaging the upper rack 13 of the I beam 3 and the other engaging the rack 15 of the I beam 4. Mounted on the block 30 are the two other idler pinions or gears 37 and 38, the pinion 37 meshing with the pinion 85 and engaging the rack 14 and the pinion 38 meshing with the pinion 36 and engaging the rack 16. These two pinions 37 and 38 may be mounted on small stub shafts 39 and 40 respectively, which stub shafts will be suitably fitted within the head 20.

\Vhen the motor 34 is operated, it will drive the gear 29 and likewise the shaft 30 and these two pinions meshing with the idler lower pinions will drive the head rearwardly from the position shown in Fig. 1 or when the motor is reversed will return the head, as will be readily understood.

I use this arrangement with the two pinions in each rack, so that there will be no danger of the stretcher head slipping during its operation, as it will be understood that the strain on these racks and pinions will be very great and it is often desirable to have a stretching capacity of approximately five hundred thousand pounds. It will be understood that I have not shown the electrical wiring connections to the motor or motor reversing mechanism, but these may be of any desirable or well known arrangements and form no part of the invention.

The operation of the device is as follows: Two or more men will lift the sheet, which is generally fourteen feet long, place it on the shelf 12 and the small handle 11 will be turned until the forward edge of the plate has fed through the rolls, and engaged the gripper jaws 25 and '26, which will then be tightened on the sheet. After this, the motor will be turned on and through the gearing above outlined the head will travel along the machine and will pull the sheet 10 through the leveling rolls and thereby level the sheet and, at the samestime, stretch the same, so that after the sheet has passed entirely through the rolls and has been leveled and stretched, it will be absolutely flat. Of course, the rolls may be adjusted to regulate the tension on the sheet or sheets.

It will be seen that-the rolls are only driven when the metal sheet is first fed through them, after which the rolls are caused to rotate by having the sheet pulled through them. I thus eliminate the ordinary stretcher strains and coil breaks. 1

After the sheet has been roller leveled,

flattened and stretched, the sheet will be lifted from the machine and the motor reversed to run the head back, so that it will be in a position to receive the next sheet.

From the foregoing, it will be seen that I have provided a machine wherein the sheet is roller leveled or flattened and stretched in the one operation and that the rolls are ro-.

tated by the sheet passing through them rather than by driving the rolls, which thus eliminates strains and breaks which are in- 1 cident to driving the rollsto flatten the sheets.

It will also be seen that this machine does I away with the roller leveling in one machine and stretching in another, which has been the common practice heretofore, and further with this machine, it is possible to secure'a flat sheet in less time and with less handling -zontally disposed rolls,

stretching steel sheets comprising a plurality moving the and expense.

Finally, it will be understood that a lesser or greater number of rolls might be employed than those shown and that many slight changes might be made in the design without sheet whereby the sheet will be roller leveled at one end of the a plurality of leveling rolls frame, means for actuating the rolls while a sheet is being threaded into the rolls, tracks on the frame, a gripper head prising a frame,

mounted in said frame,'means for driving the i gripper head along said tracks, said gripper head provided with means 'for grasping the sheet after being threaded within the rolls to thereby both level and stretch the sheet, and the rolls idling as the gripper head pulls the sheets through it.

5. A machine for roller leveling and stretching steel sheets at the one time comprising a frame, a gripper head mounted for traveling on said frame, power operated means/connected with the gripper headfor traversing the'same upon the frame, a plurality of horizontally disposed rolls at one end of the frame, the gripper head normally adjacent said rolls and'provided with means adapted to grip a steel sheet after the same has been threaded through the rolls, and the said gripper head adapted to both stretch and roller level the sheets when the gripper I head is driven away from therolls and the said rollers idling as the sheet is drawn therethrough.

' In testimony THOMAS L. THOMAS.

and stretched as the same is pulled through the rolls. a

2. A machine for roller leveling and of horizontally disposed rolls, means for preliminarily actuating the rolls to thread the sheet within the rolls, a power driven grip- 4 per head adapted to grasp the threaded sheet, said gripper. head pulling the sheet through the rolls to thereby roller level the same, and the said rolls providing a sufiicient tension on the sheet to cause said sheet to be stretched.

when said gripper head is actuated.

3. A machine for roller leveling and stretching steel sheets at the one-time comrising a frame, a plurality of rolls for roller evelmg'the-metal sheets, means'for actuat- 1n said rolls, a gripping head adjacent the ro ls for gripping the sheets after they have been threaded through the rolls, means for ggipping head away from said rolls to there y pull the sheets through the rolls and. also stretch the sheets, and'the said rolls being actuated after the gripper head has gripped the sheets by the pulling of thesheets t rough1 said rolls.

4. A mac 'ne for roller leveling and stretchmg steel sheets at the one time comwhereof I aflix my signature. 

